Natural disasters, hardware failures, and employee error – all of these problems can make an overwhelming impact on your business.
With the sudden loss of phone or internet, many organizations could face a complete operational shutdown. These are called disaster scenarios for a reason. It’s a serious interruption of your business flow, which ultimately affects your reputation and relationship with clients and vendors.
A Disaster Recovery Plan can change that. Planning for the unknown doesn’t have to be difficult. Take a strategic step-forward in your organization with these helpful tips from Strategy’s IT professionals.
Disaster Recovery Checklist for Businesses
Any type of disaster has consequences. It affects the equipment, system, processes, and people that keep your business up and running.
When mitigating the risks of system failure in your business, use this disaster recovery checklist to help prevent downtime and costly data loss.
Get a Server
Consider this rule of thumb: If your business has more than one computer, you need a server.
Computers are finicky, and don’t always work the way we want them to. The computer’s age, hardware, or even user error can cause problems. Having a planned solution like a server allows you to remotely store computer data, manage users, record who is using what, remotely update all computers and their programs, and perform many other vital recovery actions.
To Do:
- Assess your IT environment and equipment functionality. Consider applications, storage, processor, and form factor when selecting a server for your business.
Have a Backup System in Place
The server is the great problem solver for all computer needs, right? Not quite.
The server is a powerful tool which can work wonders in helping to manage devices, host programs, and store data, but it’s also vulnerable. Servers are essentially large and specialized computers that can suffer from all the same issues as your typical computer.
This tends to happen less frequently depending on the age and usage of your server, but losing a server is far more devastating than losing a single computer; you not only lose your programs, user profile, and network settings, but you’ve also lost all your data. The solution to this problem is a dedicated system that does nothing but store data.
Backup Systems are specialized to do as little as possible besides store and restore the data that is the lifeline of your business. They can be physical or cloud systems, each with their own pros and cons, that exist with the singular purpose of protecting your business.
To Do:
- Identify data on network servers, desktop computers, laptop computers and wireless devices that needs to be backed up along with other hard copy records and information.
- Develop a plan to include regularly scheduled backups from wireless devices, laptop computers and desktop computers to a network server.
Install a Firewall and Antivirus
The best defense is a strong offense. Which is why every business needs an up-to-date Firewall and Antivirus.
The Firewall fights against incoming threats, filters suspicious web activities on your network, and detects harmful traffic both in and out of the network.
The Antivirus detects and eliminates threats which make it past the Firewall. It regularly scans the computer for anything currently on the machine and ensures that downloads are safe for the computer. This strong pair is an essential part of disaster recovery: they make sure disaster never has the chance to strike.
To Do:
- Review Firewall documentation to gain an understanding of its capabilities and limitations.
- Schedule regular scans of your computer using up-to-date Antivirus software.
Assess Your Physical Environment
A regular inspection of your infrastructure and equipment is essential to avoid the costs of downtime. Coordinate with your facility or building manager to perform a physical site assessment of building elements, such as power, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) to identify potential situations in which a risk may be present.
To Do:
- Document all inventory, serial/model numbers, age of equipment, and last date it was serviced.
- Upgrade and/or replace hardware to ensure optimal performance, safety, and security.
- Clean, sweep, and dust work spaces around equipment.
- Label all equipment cords and organize them out of reach of chairs, feet, and other moving parts that can damage them.
Partner with a Dedicated IT Team
Anyone can buy a server or a computer, but setting them up correctly, efficiently, and safely is a serious challenge for the unpracticed. Everyone knows what an Antivirus is, but few know how they work.
Investing in your business’ IT infrastructure takes an extremely significant amount of time, energy, and money. A dedicated professional IT team and Managed Service Provider can help you avoid a lot of work and headache. They can help businesses avoid downtime and also help your business quickly respond before, during, and after a disaster happens.
To Do:
- If you’re in the middle of a disaster, call Strategy now. Our team is experienced in helping clients prevent and recover from disasters and network failures. Don’t let your business fail because of your systems. Contact us today.
